Variants of Nim have been played since ancient times. The game is said to have originated in China (it closely resembles the Chinese game of Tsyanshidzi, or "picking stones"), but the origin is uncertain; the earliest European references to Nim are from the beginning of the 16th century. Its current name was coined by Charles L. Bouton of Harvard University, who also developed the complete theory of the game in 1901, but the origins of the name were never fully explained. The name is probably derived from German nimm! meaning "take!", or the obsolete English verb nim of the same meaning. Some people have noted that turning the word NIM upside-down and backwards results in WIN.

Nim is usually played as a misère game, in which the player to take the last object loses. Nim can also be played as a normal play game, which means that the person who makes the last move (i.e., who takes the last object) wins. This is called normal play because most games follow this convention, even though Nim usually does not.

Hannah Maxfield, 9T (St Margaret Ward)

I found this settler very good because it was practical. The 1st person to remove the third item wins!!!! You can also do this by words

Mere, Kogarah

This is a very cool game, I played it with my sister

Zara, Belmont Academy

Very interesting...Tried it with my sister, mum and friend. Would like to see more practical things though. But overall, very good.

Mrs Sweeney's P6/7 Maths Group, Netherlee PS

A great game. What started as a quick starter developed into lots of problem solving. We tried increasing the number of objects, increasing the number of players and increasing the number of objects you could take in one go - 1, 2, 3 or 4. We had lots of fun coming up with strategies, seeing if changing something changed the strategy, and most importantly - seeing if we could beat the teacher!

Transum,

At the very least this game provides some mental maths practice as the players do the calculations required to see what effect their move will have on the possible next moves. A very easy to organise lesson starter activity assuming your pupils come with enough pens and pencils between them!

Tennessee Rock Game, Alabama

Just play foursies, just leave your opponent with any multiple of four. you can't lose unless you do a dumb dumb on the last 4.

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Answers

The strategy for the game described at the top of this page is to take the number of items from the pile that will leave your opponent with a multiple of four items on each turn.

Your access to the majority of the Transum resources continues to be free but you can help support the continued growth of the website by doing your Amazon shopping using the links on this page. Below is an Amazon search box and some items chosen and recommended by Transum Mathematics to get you started.

Have you read Craig's book yet?

Craig Barton must surely be the voice of Mathematics teachers in the UK. His wonderful podcasts interviewing the industry experts have culminated in this wonderful book. As Craig says: "I genuinely believe I have never taught mathematics better, and my students have never learned more. I just wish I had known all of this twelve years ago..." more...

"How I wish I’d taught maths' is an extraordinary and important book. Part guide to research, part memoir, part survival handbook, it’s a wonderfully accessible guide to the latest research on teaching mathematics, presented in a disarmingly honest and readable way. I know of no other book that presents as much usable research evidence on the dos and don’ts of mathematics teaching in such a clear and practical way. No matter how long you have been doing it, if you teach mathematics—from primary school to university—this book is for you." Dylan Wiliam, Emeritus Professor of Educational Assessment, UCL.

Casio Classwiz Calculator

There is currently a lot of talk about this new calculator being the best in its price range for use in the Maths classroom. The new ClassWiz features a high-resolution display making it easier to view numerical formulas and symbols but it isn't a graphical calculator as such (it has the capacity to draw graphs on your smart phone or tablet, via a scannable QR code and an app).

As well as basic spreadsheet mode and an equation solving feature you also get the ability to solve quadratic, cubic or quartic polynomial inequalities and the answer is given just as it should be written down, using the correct inequality symbols!

This calculator has a high-performance processor and twice the memory of previous models ensuring speedy operation and superior computational power.more...

Teacher, do your students have
access to computers?Do they have iPads or Laptops in Lessons?

Whether your students each have a TabletPC, a Surface or a Mac,
this activity lends itself to eLearning (Engaged Learning).